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POLITICO 44

“I do think she’s going to come back to Congress,” Wasserman Schultz said in an interview on ABC’s “Good Morning America.” “I mean, the progress she’s making, from what I understand, she’s on track for that to happen. Not sure when, but she’s making tremendous progress, and we’re all very proud of her.”

Last month, Giffords’s husband, Mark Kelly, said she would only go back to work on the Hill if she is confident in her ability to do the job. “She’s not going to do a job or even attempt to, if she doesn’t think she can do it effectively and serve her constituents well,” he said. “I’m going to want for her what she wants for her, and I know she’s going to set the bar pretty high. So she’s going to have to decide what that minimum ability is.”

Weeks earlier, recounting her visit to Giffords’s rehabilitation facility in Houston, Rep. Shelley Berkley (D-Nev.) said Giffords was “looking forward” to returning to Congress and was “running a campaign” from her hospital room. Others have since disputed that claim.

Some Democrats have gone so far as to say they hope Giffords will run for Senate in 2012, which she was seriously considering before being shot at a constituent outreach event in Phoenix in January. Wasserman Schultz, the new chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee, didn’t go that far.

“She’s doing well,” Wasserman Schultz said. “I had dinner with her in Houston last Friday. She’s beginning to walk now, really doesn’t use the wheelchair, didn’t use it when I was there with her, is responding in complex sentences.”

Readers' Comments (16)

I wish the best for Rep Giffords in her recovery and hope that it continues at a strong pace. I just wish that both sides would leave her alone to recover. Currently the dems are pushing her for Az Senator next year and of course the repubs are on the opposite side. My wish again is for everone to allow her to recover and at that point if she decides to run let the citizens of Az deciede if they want her as their Senator not the party bosses in DC.

She will return, and do what? Read bills? Make intelligent decisions? Represent her constituency in anything other than symbolic presence?? Please, being a congresswoman is a job, not an honorary post for injured persons.

If she does come back, no one will notice the difference......because she will join the other brain injured DUMBocrats like Dummie Wasserman Schultz, Anthony Whiner, Jerome Addled...and on, and on, and on....

The predatory nature of the Democratic politician is on full display. To exploit this woman as some sort of super hero by suggesting that she will return unscathed from this experience is disingenuous and disrespectful to Giffords. Wasserman-Shultz is the worst kind of shill for the Democratic party.

Wasserman-Schultz' comments smack of that same air of Congressional seat 'ownership' that surrounded Ted Kennedy. With all due respect to the woman, it's not up to Giffords to decide if she wants to come back. It's up to the people of Arizona if they want her to go back to Washington.

This is a cruel hoax that is being perpetrated on the public and Rep. Giffords by Wasserman Schultz and others of her ilk, solely for political advantage. If she were ever going to be able to return to anything like the capacity that is required of a U.S. Representative, we would have seen her by now. She almost gave her life for her job and the people she represents; now leave her alone and respect the privacy she should have. James Brady could never have performed his job again, and didn't pretend to try. Let's not diminish Giffords' sacrifice in continuing to use her so cynically.

Wasserman-Schultz is the worst kind of user. Anytime she can get her face on camera to give an opinion about Giffords she does. What kind of a friend is that. A real friend would give Giffords time to heal. Same goes for her husband. She does not need to be draged to the space center and then be put on hold when the launch is scrubbed. Apparently these two refuse to accept the seriousness of Giffords" injuries.

@Disenfranchised, consider an alternative view. Gabby supports her husband and has been to every launch he has been a part of since they were dating. She had already been planning to go to this launch prior to her injury. Why wouldn't she not want to go? More than that, after a few months of being cooped up in a hospital, what wonderful freedom to get out in the Real World. That's exactly the kind of goals which are made by people in rehab and Gabby had to work very hard to prove she was capable of going and doing what she had wanted to do all along. So Whoo Hoo Gabby for conquering those stairs and uneven surfaces and a whole lot else to get ready for it. And a little break from the grueling 8 hours of rehab a day can be nice too.

I don't think anyone is minimizing the seriousness of Gabby's injuries. Some people are expecting miracles though.

@mortarman, "This is a cruel hoax that is being perpetrated on the public and Rep. Giffords by Wasserman Schultz and others of her ilk, solely for political advantage. If she were ever going to be able to return to anything like the capacity that is required of a U.S. Representative, we would have seen her by now."

Not at all. Recovery from a gun shot wound to any part of your body takes a long time. There are still people who were shot in other parts of their body not back at their jobs. Being shot in the head takes a particularly long time to heal from. She's, by all her doctor's accounts, way ahead of the curve in recovery. So she's doing wel. That doesn't mean (as Wasserman-Schultz says in the same interview) that Gabby doesn't have a long ways to go. As long as she continues recovering noticably every day or two it's clear that recovery is still happening. It takes 8-12 months for recovery (on the average) from a gunshot wound. She's just at the half-way point of the faster end of that.

As for why we haven't seen her, Gupta interviewed her husband for his recent special and asked that. The answer was that the lack of skull on part of Gabby's head (which was removed temporarily to prevent damage from swelling) makes him uncomfortable with a picture going out. If you look at pictures of Bob Woodruff (http://blogs.abcnews.com/thew... you'll see what he's talking about. This is entirely cosmetic and the issue goes away once the skull is replaced (which is tentatively scheduled for later this month). Without a portion of the skull there, the face isn't entirely round. It's very typical for this to upset family members but otherwise really is a good thing because it allows swelling without brain damage--which until recently was the major cause of lack of recovery from these kinds of accidents). Gupta suggested that after the operation it was likely that we'd see a picture of Gabby.

@Disenfranchised, consider an alternative view. Gabby supports her husband and has been to every launch he has been a part of since they were dating. She had already been planning to go to this launch prior to her injury. Why wouldn't she not want to go? More than that, after a few months of being cooped up in a hospital, what wonderful freedom to get out in the Real World. That's exactly the kind of goals which are made by people in rehab and Gabby had to work very hard to prove she was capable of going and doing what she had wanted to do all along. So Whoo Hoo Gabby for conquering those stairs and uneven surfaces and a whole lot else to get ready for it. And a little break from the grueling 8 hours of rehab a day can be nice too.

I don't think anyone is minimizing the seriousness of Gabby's injuries. Some people are expecting miracles though.

@mortarman, "This is a cruel hoax that is being perpetrated on the public and Rep. Giffords by Wasserman Schultz and others of her ilk, solely for political advantage. If she were ever going to be able to return to anything like the capacity that is required of a U.S. Representative, we would have seen her by now."

Not at all. Recovery from a gun shot wound to any part of your body takes a long time. There are still people who were shot in other parts of their body not back at their jobs. Being shot in the head takes a particularly long time to heal from. Gabby's, by all her doctor's accounts, way ahead of the curve in recovery. So she's doing wel. That doesn't mean (as Wasserman-Schultz says in the same interview) that Gabby doesn't have a long ways to go. As long as she continues recovering noticably every day or two it's clear that recovery is still happening. It takes 8-12 months for recovery (on the average) from a gunshot wound. She's just at the half-way point of the faster end of that.

As for why we haven't seen her, Gupta interviewed her husband for his recent special and asked that. The answer was that the lack of skull on part of Gabby's head (which was removed temporarily to prevent damage from swelling) makes him uncomfortable with a picture going out. If you look at pictures of Bob Woodruff (http://blogs.abcnews.com/thew... you'll see what he's talking about. This is entirely cosmetic and the issue goes away once the skull is replaced (which is tentatively scheduled for later this month). Without a portion of the skull there, the face isn't entirely round. It's very typical for this to upset family members but otherwise really is a good thing because it allows swelling without brain damage--which until recently was the major cause of lack of recovery from these kinds of accidents). Gupta suggested that after the operation it was likely that we'd see a picture of Gabby.

If you look at the timeline of Woodruff's recovery in those pictures, you'll see how long it took him to get back to work. About a year. So if you don't think recovery is possible, perhaps you might want to explain that to his public viewers and his wife and family.